Men are big buyers of lingerie online

Picture source: ThinkStockMost men hesitate to enter a lingerie store, but online, men are emerging as significant buyers of women's undergarments thanks to the anonymity it provides. And the number of male buyers rise sharply during occasions like Valentine's Day.

Online lingerie firm Clovia said around 25% of its buyers on average are men. "The figure touches almost 40% during the November to February period -the wedding season in many parts of the country , and hence also the wedding anniversary season. Many of these orders ask for gift wrapping," founder Neha Kant said.

She said her customer care centre gets lots of calls from men enquiring about the kind of products they could buy for their wives or girlfriends. She also said that Clovia's advertising previously used to target only women, but now they are more gender neutral.

Richa Kar, founder of online lingerie venture Zivame, said the base of men buyers was growing quickly. "It picks up during Valentine's Day. Anniversaries and birthdays are other occasions when men pick up lingerie," she said, adding that the country's top 10 cities are driving most of these sales.

Kar believes that Zivame's rapid growth -revenue has grown three times over the past one year -is partly on account of the opportunity for discreet shopping and the packaging that the online platform provides.

It's quite a contrast in physical stores. La Senza, a lingerie store in Bengaluru, said about the only men who come into their stores are those who accompany their wives or other women friends.

The offline lingerie market is estimated to be about $2 billion. The online one is a fraction of that, but is growing rapidly. That's the reason why big investors today are backing some of them. Zivame has raised $49 million so far, $40 million (Rs 250 crore) of that coming in September, from investors including Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the investment holding arm of the Malaysian government, Zodius Technology Fund, Unilazer, IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital.